Dashboard

The
Dashboard asset is a way to present content that users can then
arrange on the page how they want. The dashboard is also a way to
create a portal to other parts of a website. In essence, shortcuts of
existing site content are placed in the dashboard, and then users can
drag and drop the content to a location of their choosing.

Choose
the Dashboard asset from the New Content menu of the Admin Bar.

Enter
a title for the dashboard in the “Title” field.

The
“Menu Title” is the title as it appears in site navigation. You
can leave this blank and WebGUI will fill this in for you.

The
“URL” field may also be left blank, and WebGUI will generate a
URL for you.

In
the “Description” field enter a brief description of the
dashboard, perhaps explaining its content or how to use it.

At
the bottom of the screen is the “Who can personalize?” field.
This determines the group of users who will be allowed to
personalize their content using the dashboard.

Open
in new window?:
if toggled to Yes, the asset will open in a new browser window when
viewed directly.

Display
the title?:
if toggled to No, the asset’s title will not appear on the
webpage.

Style
Template:
select a style in which to view the asset. If the asset is part of a
page layout asset, the page layout style will override this.

Printable
Style:
if the page is made printable, a pared-down printer friendly version
will be made available.

Dashboard
Template:
the default
dashboard template is a three column view. To manually customize
this template, click on the edit button to the right of this field.

Set
this asset’s security settings in the “Security” tab.

Owner:
the owner has full viewing and editing rights to the asset. Usually,
the owner is the asset creator.

Who
can view?:
determines the group who can view the asset.

Who
can edit?:
determines the group who can edit asset content. This is not the
same as the group “Who can personalize” that was set on the
Properties tab; the “Who can edit?” group can edit the content
in the asset’s “Add Dashboard” screen.

Who
can manage?:
determines which group can manage dashboard content (add/edit/remove
content, set overrides etc.).

If
you wish, enter metadata in the “Metadata” tab.
This is the standard metadata tab common amongst most assets. You
can learn more about it in the “Asset Basics” chapter.

Click
save and your dashboard will be placed on the site.

Notice
that in the right hand corner is the “Leave Default User
Perspective (Admin Mode)” link. Click this link to exit admin mode
and see the default view, as the user would see it. The current view
is the default user view. Anyone who has not yet customized the
dashboard or users who do not have personalization rights will see
this view.

NOTE: The default dashboard view does not contain the site navigation. To navigate to the page containing the content you would like to shortcut, use the Asset Manager, accessed through the Assets link in the Admin Console.

Add Content to the Dashboard

Adding
content to the dashboard is basically done by placing a number of
shortcuts on the dashboard. For this example, a number of shortcuts
will be made from the Plain Black demo’s “Your Next Step” page
(demo.plainblack.com). The content added through this process becomes
the default content users can select from when they populate the
dashboard, allowing them to customize the content they see.

Navigate
throughout your site and create shortcuts of the content you would
like to place in the dashboard. The titles of these assets will
appear in the clipboard on the Admin Bar.

Once
your shortcuts have been made, navigate back to the Dashboard asset.

To
add the asset shortcuts to the dashboard, simply click on their
titles in the clipboard. You will not immediately see this content
appear on the dashboard. Instead, they will be added to the
dashboard’s New Content List. You can see an “Add New Content”
link in the upper left hand corner of the dashboard default view.
When you add the shortcuts to the Dashboard's New Content menu you
are essentially creating a default menu of content users can add to
their personal dashboards.

To
load the content onto the dashboard, click on the “Add New
Content” link. The titles will appear in the New Content List on
the left hand side of the dashboard screen.

To
place the asset shortcuts onto the dashboard, simply drag and drop
the titles into their new positions. The content will display once
the asset is placed. Content placed on the dashboard by the “Who
can manage?” group will become the default content viewed when
users enter the Dashboard. The user may then rearrange content as
s/he desires.

Likewise,
the asset can be removed from the dashboard simply by grabbing the
title bar at the top and dragging it back to the New Content menu.
Content can be rearranged in the same manner; drag and drop the
assets into their new positions on the dashboard until everything is
placed as desired.

If
you slide the cursor over the title bar of an asset in the dashboard,
you will see a delete button appear. Clicking on the delete button
will also place the asset back in the dashboard’s New Content menu.
Content can further be personalized through the shortcut toolbars
where users may override the properties.

Personalize a Shortcut

You can personalize the Dashboard using
the ##userPref:<profile field>## macro. Once members of the
“Who can manage?” group have generated content for the Dashboard,
and placed the shortcuts on the Dashboard for the default content, a
shortcut can be edited and the macro inserted. This example is going
to show how an Article, used to welcome a user to the Dashboard, is
customized to display the user's first name.

The article was made into a
shortcut. The image below shows the original article on the page and in the
Clipboard tab.

Navigate to the Dashboard asset,
and select the shortcut asset from the Clipboard tab to place in the
Dashboard's New Content menu.

Drag the shortcut onto the
Dashboard to display it. Below, you can see that the title of the
original article, “Dashboard Welcome,” is displayed. An override
will be placed on the shortcut to display the current user's first
name in place of this title.

Edit the shortcut. Use the toolbar
located at the top of the asset, above the gray shaded Shortcut bar
to open the Edit Shortcut screen.

Click on the Overrides tab. This
will open a screen on which all the fields used during this
asset-types creation are displayed (the fields seen in an asset's
add/edit screen). These fields may differ depending on the type of
asset.

Click the Edit button for the
field in which you'd like to enter a new value. In this example, the
##userPref:<profile field>## macro is going to be used in
place of the shortcut asset's title. The macro is placed in the
Title field and in the New Override Value field. In the profile
field section of the macro you may enter any field name that
corresponds to a field in WebGUI's user profiling system. In this
example, ##userPref:firstName## was entered. This means that the
macro will pull in the value entered for the user's first name in
that user's user profile.

Click save at the bottom of the
screen.

In the Manage Shortcut Overrides
screen the new value for the Title field will be displayed. You can
see that the article's old title will no be overridden by the
macro.

On the far right hand side of the
screen, click on the Back to Edit Shortcut link.

At the top of the Edit Shortcut
screen, click on the Preferences tab.

In the Preferences tab, select
the field name to be pulled by the macro from the “Preference
Fields to Import” area. In the screenshot below, you can see that
First Name is selected. In the parentheses after this, you can see
that the field name for this is firstName, which corresponds to the
value entered in the macro.

Click save.

You will be returned to the Dashboard.
While editing the Dashboard in Admin mode, you are editing for a
default user, and WebGUI uses the Visitor user for that purpose. By
default, the user Visitor does not have a first name, so you will not
initially see your override. To see the shortcut generate the macro,
exit Admin mode. Then, you will able to see that the macro generates
the first name of the currently logged in user in the Title field of
the asset shortcut. Below, the user is Jane.

If a shortcut in a Dashboard is
personalized in this manner, the user will see an Edit button in the
bar at the top.

The Edit button allows the user to
change the value pulled in by the macro. Clicking on the Edit button
will open an edit field.